Thank you Netgalley!

Ths first half was a little slow for me, but I ended up really liking this! I enjoyed the internal conflict of the main character and the magic was really interestesting.

I loved that romance was not really a part of the story and that we got to follow a scholar!

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this eArc.

I kept on postponing this review due to my own opinions on the book. I went from loving it to suffering to go through it at times. My main struggle was the pacing, it would drag and then rush through. The main character was also quite unlikeable at points, but he's arc into without growth... This could have been one of those reads for me that I just went into with really high expectations. As a small summary, it's still an interesting read, worthwhile the time. The world created and among it the main character quite an engaging representation of the world he lives in. Thorn between tradition, power and magic.

When I received this ARC, I was so excited to read it since it has such a good rating, but I could not get into this book. Wen Alder was super unlikeable and I did not like reading his POV, he honestly just annoyed me. I disliked the majority of the plot: the studying, and the weird religion/world. The only part I sort of liked so far was the grandma's magic and revolution. If I kept reading, that might have been interesting. However, overall, it was not enough for me to spend my time reading this (since I already hate the first quarter of it).
Overall, personally I would not recommend this book as I could not with this book, but I believe it is just a "me thing", being as it does have such a high rating.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for an advanced copy.

I really REALLY wanted to enjoy this one. It drags in some places and I didn't really enjoy the main character which makes like the whole book really hard. I did like the story building in places but I found myself not really caring about some things. I have a hard copy of this book from a subscription, but I don't think I will be keeping it.

Unfortunately this book ended up not being for me. I love epic fantasies and this book has a fantastic world within it. I also love stories with characters I can connect too and care about their journey and growth. The story had a lot of potential, but I could not connect to the main character or any of the secondary characters. All of the characters ended up falling flat and ultimately I could not fully enjoy the world created.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my most anticipated release of the month, and oh boy it didn't disappoint. The protagonist Alder was truly the highlight for me. He's the sort of character that is very unlikeable, and yet difficult to dislike at all. I loved how we followed him as he made mistakes and grew from them. It felt like a very real depiction of growth and especially that of a young boy to man.

Although Alder was fantastic, I found the other characters a bit lacking. Although there were many of them, they didn't really 'support' Alder as such, and I think this is something that can be better developed in book 2 (which I will for sure be reading).

The magic system wasn't too complex and I feel could have been expanded upon more, but there were some fascinating ideas there. The setting of the story too was stunning, and the writing was immersive and evocative without being pretentious. My only other issue was the pacing of the book - it felt very much like episodes of a tv show, each with it's own storyline that wrapped up neatly (ie. the 'parts') and there didn't feel to be the overarching arc I was hoping for. Nevertheless, this was a thoroughly enjoyable hard-hitting book, and I can't wait to read the next instalment in the series. Do yourself a favour and pick this up!

3.5/5

So, this book. It's cool. The main character is nicely developed but I never warmed up to him. (or to other characters for that matter). Even though the main twists are strong I saw all of them coming. The characterization of secondary characters lacked depth. All told, I can totally understand why readers love it but I don't share their passion.

Ideal for fans of epic fantasy like myself although I really expected to love this one, it fell flat for me. I couldn’t connect with our main character of this book. I think it was the writing style.

"The Hand of the Sun King": 4⭐

(Unpaid Review: thank you to @netgalley, @jtgreathouse and the publishers for allowing me to read this eArc copy in exchange for a review.)

Let me just qualify this book with two words: F*CKING. BRILLIANT! I've never seen a book with so many different kinds of magic and such a different, stunning world full of adventure and magic!

I will definitely read the next book on this series, absolutely mindblowing! I can't even!

The writing was beautiful, it is a story about cultural identity and learn to know yourself in depth. It takes place in an empire during a war against rebels that are the natives of this land and want to upheld traditions of their community. There is battles more or less epic, there's different scales they were good.
Wen will travel a lot and see tons of locations and will truly see both cultures and more even to learn about them too. It was interesting to see him progress through it and learning so much and will gain wisdom, it was a great storyarc to see takes place.The magic system was so well developped, every nation has a different way to use it and is fondamental to the core of each

This was an interesting concept. One thing that knocked off a star for me is the main character's narration felt a bit childish and not that of a teenager (I believe that is the age of the main character). I really loved the world-building and how strong and fabulous the main character's grandmother was. I felt the whole "do I choose my mother's side or my father's side" personally because as someone who is mixed (but lives in a free country where my existence is not a crime), it sometimes feels like I have to change my identity (identifying as my mother's ethnicity or my father's) depending on where I am and/or who I am speaking to. I think this was definitely something that stood out to me for the longest part of the novel because it resonated with me so deeply, despite the main character's existence basically being a crime in the place where he lives.

I really loved this! This reminded me of elements from the Kingkiller Chronicles, the Sun Eater series, and The Poppy War (all of which I really enjoy). These are all elements that work extremely well for me, so I was happy to see them here!

We have this structure of an older character recounting his life, and this particular installment was very much a coming of age story. It does span quite a bit of time for a relatively short book! The pacing was done well overall with really lovely, engaging writing. It maybe does rush some things more than I would have liked, but I think that speaks to the strength of writing that I wanted even more time in these settings (like I could read hundreds of more pages delving into tiny details). There are some fabulous action scenes here!

This book has several acts and parts of the world. This covers him studying for exams (so we have a school setting, yay!), learning some magic, traveling the world, and becoming disillusioned with the Empire. I really liked the variety of settings. It's mostly Asian-inspired which was fun to see. I also really liked the desert setting that comes up! The book also tackles things like being mixed race and being looked down upon for this, as well as imperialism.

We mostly focus on Alder as he goes from being a naive, privileged boy to learning more about the world and becoming more sympathetic. I liked him overall, though he can certainly be arrogant. I think this attitude comes from the society and what's been ingrained in him though. I enjoyed seeing him realize he's been wrong and actually try to be better. I can certainly respect his desire to find a third path, even though this may be a bit of a naive dream and idealistic.

There are some interesting characters along the way with friends, lovers, and foes. Some of them have an air of mystery to them, and I want to find out more! I really like Alder's first teacher in particular. He has some good lessons for Alder, and some of them are more than Alder initially realizes. His family has this tough dynamic with these fundamentally opposed sides. I particularly liked his grandmother since she's a badass, older lady who can use magic and fights against the Empire.

I also really enjoyed the different types of magic and the structure associated with them. There are some interesting reasons behind the magic that I loved learning about. There are some elemental types of magic here. I particularly liked the wind and water magic, but there's also fire, shifting, mind magic, and lightning. Lots of cool magic here certainly! The plot also expands in scope to involve the gods which is something I always love seeing.

I clearly had such a good time with this book and would highly recommend it! I will anxiously be awaiting the next book in the series.

My video review can be seen on my booktube channel (around minutes 9:27-13:37 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXlpGVQcic4

The Hand of the Sun King was a good book but it didn't blow me away. It had the potential to be a great story but it lacked something. I think my main problem was the main character, Wen Alder. I didn't feel connected to him and in the end I didn't care very much about his story or path. The worldbuilding and the magic system were good and interesting, though. All in all, it wasn't a bad book but it could have been better.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing style and plotting was incredible.
I do enjoy these 'first books in a series' that give you almost a slice of life of the MC through their early years. I think this really helps establish the roots of our MCs actions through the book.
There was a LOT of exposition in the first three parts. I felt the end of part three and part four were especially strong and I am very eager to see where this series is going to go. The setting, magic systems, and culture were expertly done. There were times I thought this was going to drop to a 3 but every time the author surprised me and kept this one at a solid 4/5 stars.
I highly recommend checking this one out!

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital arc.

unfortunately i had to dnf this one. was not a fan of the writing style, it felt stiff and inorganic. but the thing that put me off was finding out that this book drew so heavily upon east asian cultures and traditions with topics of imperialism was written by a white man.... with a b.a. minor in asian studies.... simply not ok.

I DNF’d this one about a quarter of the way through, because the writing style didn’t resonate with me and it made me uncomfortable finding out that a book that drew so heavily upon East Asian cultures and traditions with topics of imperialism was written by a white man with a BA minor in Asian studies.

The Hand of the Sun King is an Asian inspired fantasy following a single POV character, Wen Alder. At its hearts, it is a coming of age story for Wen. We follow him as a child torn between his father’s side of the family and his mother’s. He learns magic from his grandmother on his mother’s side, but then decides to take the Imperial Examinations to become a Hand of the Emperor. He is torn between these two sides of himself throughout the story and must ultimately decide which path is best.

This book is a slow moving, first person, single POV story following Wen and his internal struggles. There is not much action. I enjoyed Wen as a character and the magic, but I found it a bit slow for my personal tastes.

With magic, pacts between gods and witches, politics and strained race relations, Hand of the Sun King is a riveting read that won't disappoint.

As someone with an interest in Chinese history, I enjoyed seeing Greathouse tweak Western fantasy genre expectations and traditional Chinese literary tropes to tell a compelling narrative that contains elements from both but isn't quite in either. I also think that Greathouse did a deft job overall of avoiding harmful stereotyping--even while he explicitly acknowledges the harm done by large empires of any sort.

I admit that towards the end I did start to feel more uncomfortable about how all the pseudo-Chinese characters are basically giant assholes who don't care about anyone from other cultures but only about the success and dominance of their empire and emperor. Although imperial China definitely had a lot of this attitude, I think acknowledging that it's edging a little into problematic territory for a novel written by a white author about a fantasy China to showcase this, especially given race relations towards people of Chinese descent in the US today.

I was also a little disappointed at how heteronormative the whole thing appears to be. Greathouse and his characters are both clearly aware of the fact that 'traditional' gender roles are not super great for women, and at times the novel and its main character more or less explicitly comment on this. The main romantic plot also didn't go the way I thought it would in ways I deeply appreciated and that I thought showed a *healthy* heterosexual relationship for once. Not to mention that the friendship plot was given equal weight. So those were all a plus for me!

But... this book is very straight. There's no hint that anyone might be interested in anything other than a heterosexual relationship, which seems more in line with modern (conservative) Western cultures than pre-modern China, where there's plenty of evidence suggesting people viewed romance and sexuality much more openly and equally regardless of the genders of those involved. Especially given the book's focus on "resistance to dominant culture" as a main theme, I found this pretty disappointing and a bit of an oversight.

As anyone can see, these criticisms of the work probably have more to do with my tastes as a reader and my personal politics than objective problems with the work. In sequels, though, I'd really like to see a bit more nuanced view of the Sienese!

That aside, the ending felt a little too pat to me. It's only the first book in a series, though, so presumably things will get messy again later on. And of course, commenters who note that the story doesn't develop its characters "properly" would do well to consider that it's building on multiple traditions, and some of the disconnect may come from there.

Fans of Ken Liu's DANDELION DYNASTY, RF Kuang's POPPY WAR and Seth Dickinson's BARU CORMORANT will definitely want to give this one a try.

☆☆☆☆,25 /5
(english review below)

Dans ce premier tome, l’auteur nous offre un univers fascinant avec une politique et un fonctionnement intriguant, ainsi qu’un protagoniste qui bouleverse et qui fait évoluer le lecteur en même temps que lui.
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Wen Alder provient de deux mondes.
Du côté de son père, un héritage de fière loyauté et de service envers l'empereur siennois semblable à un dieu s'étendant sur des générations. Et on s'attend à ce qu'Alder, lui aussi, suive cette tradition en réussissant les examens impériaux, en apprenant les méthodes de magie acceptées et, s'il sert avec honneur, en renforçant la notoriété de sa famille en s'élevant pour occuper un poste des plus puissants à Sien-la Main, en tant qu’Empereur.
Mais de sa mère, il a hérité du défi de l'Empire, une histoire de dieux sauvages et de magie différente de tout ce que les sorciers impériaux pouvaient encore contrôler. Tout a commencé lorsque sa grand-mère fougueuse et rebelle a emmené Alder dans les bois et lui a fait découvrir ses manières, des manières qu'il n'a jamais pu oublier.
Maintenant, sur le point de franchir les étapes qui traceront le chemin de sa vie, Alder découvre que le conflit entre l'Empire et la résistance n'est que le début d'une guerre qui engloutira à la fois le ciel et la terre, les dieux et les hommes -et il peut être la clé de la victoire finale pour n'importe quel camp qui peut le revendiquer comme le leur…
¤
J’ai été touchée par le personnage d’Alder, au fil des pages. Le jeune homme m’a fait ressentir mille et une émotions de par ses doutes, ses confusions et sa détermination à être maître de sa vie, de son passé et de son futur. Il possède deux héritages, deux histoires de familles qui sont opposés. Il se sent coincé entre les deux, coincé au point de vouloir de se défaire de tout ça, de devenir une nouvelle personne afin de faire ce qu’il voudrait faire. Il se sent oppressé par les attentes que les autres ont de lui, par les rumeurs et les jugements le concernant lui et sa famille.
J’ai apprécié suivre son point de vue, ses remises en question et sa maturation au fil des événements dans le récit. Alder grandit et ne prend pas forcément de bonnes décisions. Il n’est pas guidé et essaye de faire ce qu’il pense être le plus juste, sans avoir assez de recul sur les situations. J’ai trouvé son évolution plutôt réaliste, semé d’embûches et d’échecs ainsi que de victoires et de fierté.
Également, j’ai apprécié en connaître plus sur l’univers que je trouve assez complet. Le côté historique sur l’Empire est bien expliqué. Le lecteur a toutes les informations pour connaître le contexte dans lequel se déroule l’histoire. Il y a une part de magie et de mythologie aussi, ce qui a rendu ma lecture plus légère et féerique malgré la tension qui est présente. Le côté politique aussi est bien expliqué. J’ai aimé apprendre à connaître chacun des rôles des personnes faisant fonctionner le royaume, cette société et cet univers.
Néanmoins, les seuls bémols qui m’ont ralenti pendant ma lecture fut le rythme que j’ai trouvé malheureusement trop lent dans la moitié du roman. Je pense qu’on aurait pu accélérer les événements, voire même en sauter car ça aurait été plus dynamique. Aussi, je soulève un manque de développement concernant certains personnages. On n’en sait pas assez sur eux et même s’ils paraissent secondaires à l’histoire, je suis sûre qu’en leur donnant plus de place, ils me semblent indispensables.
En bref, il me tarde d’en connaître plus à propos de tout ça !

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ENGLISH REVIEW:

In this first book, the author offers us a fascinating universe with an intriguing politics and functioning, as well as a protagonist who moves and who makes the reader evolve at the same time as him.
¤
Wen Alder was born into two worlds.

On his father’s side, a legacy of proud loyalty and service to the god-like Sienese Emperor spanning generations. And it is expected that Alder, too, will follow this tradition by passing the Imperial exams, learning the accepted ways of magic and, if he serves with honor, enhancing his family's prominence by rising to take a most powerful position in Sien—the Hand of the Emperor.

But from his mother he has inherited defiance from the Empire, a history of wild gods and magic unlike anything the Imperial sorcerers could yet control. It began when his spirited, rebellious grandmother took Alder into the woods and introduced him to her ways—ways he has never been able to forget.

Now, on the verge of taking the steps that will forge the path of his life, Alder discovers that the conflict between the Empire and the resistance is only the beginning of a war that will engulf both heaven and earth, gods and man—and he may be the key to final victory for whichever side can claim him as their own…
¤
I was touched by the character of Alder as I went through the pages. This man made me feel a thousand and one emotions through his doubts, his confusions and his determination to be master of his life, his past and his future. He has two inheritances, two stories of families that are opposed. He feels stuck in between, stuck to the point of wanting to let go of it all, to become a new person in order to do whatever he wants to do. He feels oppressed by the expectations others have of him, by rumors and judgments about him and his family.
I enjoyed following his point of view, his questioning and his maturing as the events unfolded in the story. Alder is growing up and doesn't necessarily make good decisions. He isn’t guided and tries to do what he thinks is the most right, without having enough perspective on the situations. I found his evolution to be quite realistic, fraught with pitfalls and failures as well as victories and pride.
Also, I enjoyed knowing more about the universe which I find quite complete. The historical side of the Empire is well explained. The reader has all the information to know the context in which the story takes place. There’s an element of magic and mythology too, which made my reading more light and magical despite the tension that is present. The political side is also well explained. I enjoyed getting to know each of the roles of the people making the kingdom, this society and this universe work.
However, the only caveats that slowed me down while reading was the pace which I unfortunately found too slow in half of the book. I think we could have accelerated the events, or even skipped it because it would have been more dynamic. Also, I think there’s a lack of development regarding certain characters. We don't know enough about them and even if they seem secondary to the story, I'm sure that by giving them more space, they seem indispensable to me.
Anyway, I can't wait to know more about all of this!

Thank you to Gollancz and Will for allowing me a ARC to provide my thoughts and JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc. on Netgalley for providing me a copy. All thoughts are my mine.

The story takes on an older Wen Alder/Foolish Cur, reflecting on his past. He wants to learn magic without the limitations of his Nayani heritage and the Siennese disdain for magic. His grandmother is a central character that wants him to revolt against the Empire. While his mother doesn’t want that. I shall call him Foolish Cur because that is an apt name for many of the decisions he makes in the book’s course, which aren’t significant. He is competent, yes, but he’s also misguided at the same time. Foolish Cur wants his way, a third way where he’s free from all the burdens that are placed by his background. He’s torn between two heritages, and that’s what eats at the core of his soul in this book. How can one man break away from this? On the one hand, the Siennese torture and kill those who practice magic and yet make use of it in battle. On the other, the Siennese recently conquered the Nayani, and they have been rebelling against them. Foolish Cur could have been a double agent, which he tries too, but fails at it miserably. This entire book is about a young man trying to discover who he is and what he wants.

I experienced this Foolish Cur becoming the Hand of the Emperor of Sien through strict tutoring by his tutor, Koro. Foolish Cur, being the son of a wealthy merchant, exchanged tutors often. He is often selfish, complacent, and arrogant. But when you’re young, you’re bound to be that way. You don’t have the maturity of age at that point. At some points in the story, I felt Foolish Cur was often reacting to events rather than being actively involved in the story. At other points, the pacing slowed down in some areas. I sent him to the city of An-Zabat and experienced an adventure that one could say was exhilarating. He fell in love with Atar, whom I liked as a character and I want to see more of her in book 2. There are deeper truths hidden, and as you read each chapter, you learn a degree of what this world is really about. It is a cruel world with gods that aren’t benevolent. More evil is what I would describe to them.

There is plenty of action with Gods, there is plenty of action in battle, but what has to be commended is making an area of politics I find boring in fantasy very interesting. Economics. Or, the Ministry of Finance. Often in fantasy, you do not see much elaboration of a role like this. In it, when Foolish Cur becomes the Minister of Trade and Finance in the city of An-Zabat, he has to oversee a lot of decisions but he also realises that most of his decisions make no impact when the older bureaucracy don’t want him to reform the already deteriorating situation that is happening within the city. At other points, there are many so interesting characters in this novel. But for most of them, I didn’t feel too attached to them as I would have wanted. They were there as well rounded-developed characters, but sometimes I felt the narrator was too distant from them sometimes.

I found an example to colonialism, and one subject I studied was French Colonialism at University, and the conclusion I can draw from that is there was no doubt good-intentioned French Colonial Governors that wanted to make things better for the Algerians and the Senegalese subjects that were considered ‘citizens’ of France. But the bureaucracy that wanted corruption to fester often stopped them. For example, An-Zabat, the Sienese occupation of An-Zabat is divided into Siennese Settlers and An-Zabti Subjects. The Siennese settlers lived in absolute luxury and diverted wealth from the city’s people to the pockets of their merchants. In the same way, in French Colonial Algeria, the European settlers were at the top of the food chain and the Algerians were at the bottom. Many of the An-Zabti people are forced to live in slums, even rocky areas, I imagine. This has already developed a powerful breed of resentment of An-Zabti people, although I would have wanted the author to show those Pro-Sien An-Zabti people that do work with the Sienese occupiers show just how hypocritical it was. And Foolish Cur has to deal with these in a situation of scenarios.

The last part I will note is that I enjoyed the mixing of East Asian Culture with Middle East influences. Trade between the Medieval Islamic World and China often bloomed through the Silk Road, and the Indian Ocean, which included South-East Asia. What I see is a sort of Medieval European World that is mixed with Medieval China/Korea and incorporating perhaps the Sultanate of Zanzibar in the end? I often prefer fantasy that expands from the realm of Medieval Europe and explores the bigger world, because there is history out there that is under-neglected and ignored. So I appreciate the fact the author made me go through the city streets of An-Zabti, through the bazaars, and I got to see camels in this book. Camels. We need more camels in fantasy.

Overall, the book was well written, well-paced, and thoroughly enjoyable to read. I loved it. Fantastic writing, and it’s a 10/10 from me.

I have submitted my Amazon/Waterstones Review but they are being processed for submission,